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About Columbia Gorge news. (The Dalles, OR) 2020-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2021)
Wednesday,June16,2021 Columbia Gorge News www.columbiagorgenews.com 9 TDHS grad accepted to top music school Neita Cecil ■ By Columbia Gorge News “I love to do energetic music because I feel like I’m super energetic, so it really fits with me.” RIANA ACEVEDO She wants to write and knew she wanted to study music in college. produce songs, and figure out staging, lighting to stage Aiming high, she looked outfits and what dance to do into Juilliard, but found the in what order. famous school leans more Saying she was “a very to the classical side: Think busy person before COVID,” music theory and Mozart. Acevedo listed her activ- But the Berklee College of Music in Boston, another ities: Cheer, band, work, top music school, hit just the basketball, and taking three right note. She can major college-level Advanced in songwriting and music Placement (AP) classes at production, which is exactly once. what the senior from The She’s taken every AP class Dalles High School wants to the high school has offered, do. figuring it would make “I really love school and I college easier. She found she love learning,” said Acevedo. likes going to school, doing “But my passion has always homework and getting good been music.” grades. In high school, her only Her enthusiasm befuddles musical outlet was playing both of her siblings. “Why flute and serving as drum do you like school?” they ask major in band. She taught her. herself music production and She explained, “I’m a very songwriting. social person and I like to be “I enjoy playing flute. It busy and I like to be involved makes me happy, it’s music.” and I just like to be there.” She also loves being on She said, “I did do a lot in stage. “I think that might high school. I tried to do as have come from cheer,” much as I could. I felt like which she did all four years of everything is tying up right high school. now, everything is clicking.” “I really love to have a lot of If she can’t swing Berklee energy on the stage because I financially, she also got love doing it.” accepted to Portland State She admires all the singers University, which has a who do dance routines as strong music program. part of their show, and that’s She’s always on time for what she aspires to. everything and works for her A Ariana Acevedo, who just graduated from The Dalles High School and was accepted to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, is pictured here in the artwork that accompanies the re- lease of her song “Mask,” on Spotify and YouTube. Contributed photo grades. “This is not some- thing my parents told me — ‘You have to get really good grades and be involved' — it was something I wanted to do myself. “I’ve always been super responsible because I’m the oldest. My parents don’t speak English, so I do a lot of the translating." “Very strict” about getting eight hours of sleep, she wakes, eats breakfast, “and I get started with my day right away. That’s how it is being a busy person.” Her friends razzed her for never answering her phone. If she is on her phone, it’s to put a reminder in her calen- dar, or to finish a document for class. Junior year, Acevedo was in the Distinguished Young Woman event. For her talent, she sang a song she wrote. It helped earn her runner up in the competition. For her audition with Berklee, she decided to write her own three-minute song and perform it live over Zoom. She credited her interview experience from DYW with helping in the audition. The song talked about how she was feeling before heading off to college. She wanted it to give them an insight into her as a person, beyond her teachers’ letters of recommendations. Asked how she comes up with her songs, she said, “This probably sounds really weird but it’s usually a vibe that I get from the track I’m making.” She wanted to release an original song of hers, “Mask,” as part of the Berklee appli- cation. “I posted on Spotify and YouTube and iTunes. I was very, very scared.” She didn’t know how people would react to her creation. It is posted under her nickname, Ari. (You can find the song on Spotify at open.spotify.com/ track/5ex7MmC2a8I4JdLgh- fbsJa?si=t-mkDaomQ_iUk7i- idJODeg and on YouTube at youtu.be/-M8cEF1t8io) She played with many synthesizes and band music to get nostalgic. She wanted the song not too dark, but a little dramatic, “like the person was going through something. “If I do make it somewhere, in the future, I want to repre- sent that you do have a start and there’s always room for improvement.” She recorded the song on her “old” iPhone 7 Plus. “I’m not kidding.” She said, “I don’t even know if I’m doing any of this right. I’m just posting what I know, what I can do on my own. I want to get better.” Her five-part audition included improvising vocals, seeing if she could sing in tune, repeating rhythms clapped to her, recognizing chords and sight-reading music. She didn’t know how to sight-read vocally, but she can do it with the flute, so she imagined what the note would be on a flute and sang it. “I was very slow, but I got there.” Acevedo’s uncle, who taught himself violin while growing up on a farm in Mexico, is her musical influence. “I’ve noticed a lot of SeeGRAD,page10 Celebrating 40 Years The Mid-Columbia BOB SMITH, PC Broker, Licensed OR/WA 541-980-7770 Office 541-296-1045 x 503 EMAIL bobs@copperwest.com Mobile MARKETPLACE 314 Lincoln St, The Dalles www.copperwest.com Bustos & Hernandez Construction New Homes Remodel Kitchens & Bath Free Estimates OR Lic.# 175617 / Bonded 0- Insured 541-298-7015 Mike Kilkenny Senior Mortgage Advisor 412 Washington St., The Dalles, OR 97058 541-370-2655 Phone 541-980-1030 Cell 541-298-6741 FAX mkilkenny@platinummortgagenw.com platinummortgagenw.com MLO-114224 412 Washington St., The Dalles, OR 97058 541-370-2655 Phone 541-980-1030 Cell 541-298-6741 FAX mkilkenny@ platinummortgagenw.com platinummortgagenw.com Vickie L. 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